Cody Gakpo Seeks Liverpool Exit After Slot's Dismissal

Cody Gakpo’s Liverpool story looks set to end not with a flourish, but with a sharp break.

The Dutch forward has submitted a transfer request to leave Anfield after the dismissal of Arne Slot, according to reports in the Netherlands, bringing a dramatic twist to a relationship that only a few months ago looked secure and central to Liverpool’s plans.

Gakpo arrived in January 2022 for an initial £37m and has built a solid body of work on Merseyside: 50 goals and 23 assists across 180 appearances. Last season, he was a key part of Slot’s title-winning side, contributing 15 goals and assists in the Premier League as Liverpool reclaimed the crown in the manager’s first campaign.

Then the bottom fell out.

Liverpool’s title defence collapsed this term, the champions stumbling to a fifth-placed finish. The drop-off cost Slot his job, and with him went Gakpo’s main ally inside the club. The Dutchman has been replaced by Andoni Iraola, and with that change, the forward’s sense of belonging appears to have evaporated.

According to Dutch outlet Soccernews, Gakpo has submitted a transfer request because he does not see a future at Liverpool without Slot. It is a stark stance from a player who, for long stretches of last season, carried the weight of fan frustration.

While Liverpool’s form deteriorated, Gakpo often found himself at the centre of the debate. A section of the support struggled to understand why Slot persisted with him ahead of teenage prodigy Rio Ngumoha, whose cameos only intensified calls for a changing of the guard in attack. Slot stood firm, backing experience and structure over raw excitement.

Now that loyalty has become a fault line.

Atletico Madrid are already watching closely. The Spanish club, searching for a replacement for Antoine Griezmann after the Frenchman’s move to MLS side Orlando City at the end of his contract, are reported to “have ears for a collaboration” with Gakpo. The price will not be light. Gakpo is currently valued at around €60m (£52m), and any deal would demand serious money, but the suggestion from the Netherlands is that an agreement is far from out of reach.

Liverpool, crucially, are not slamming the door.

TEAMtalk report that the club are open to selling Gakpo this summer. Slot had been loyal to the winger, picking him regularly despite external criticism and backing that faith with a huge new contract last year worth £250,000 a week through to June 2030. That long-term deal now looks more like leverage than foundation.

The stance from within Anfield is clear: if Gakpo wants out, they will not stand in his way.

That position becomes even more striking when set against the wider picture. Mohamed Salah, the club’s modern icon, is also leaving, forcing Liverpool into the market for a top-tier wide forward. Yet, according to those close to the situation, the club are still prepared to sanction Gakpo’s exit as well, ripping out two major pieces of their frontline in one window.

Back in March, before Salah’s departure was confirmed, transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano had already flagged a turbulent summer ahead for Liverpool’s wide areas. He spoke of a “busy summer” and stressed the need to “reinforce their wingers”, pointing directly to the situations of Salah and Gakpo and the need for something “fresh” in those positions.

That prediction now feels less like analysis and more like a roadmap.

If Gakpo gets his move and Salah completes his own exit, Liverpool’s attack will head into a new season stripped of two senior figures who have defined recent eras in very different ways. For Iraola, it would mean walking into one of the most demanding rebuilds in Europe: replacing goals, reputation and identity in a single summer.

Gakpo, meanwhile, stands at a crossroads. From trusted lieutenant under Slot to lightning rod for criticism, from long-term contract to formal transfer request, his Liverpool journey has compressed a career’s worth of drama into a few short years.

If Atletico Madrid decide to turn interest into a bid, the next chapter of that story may be written in La Liga, not under the Anfield lights.